On November 12, 2022, the New Development Bank (NDB) and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) jointly held an event at the 27th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Under the theme of “Leveraging Climate Finance for a Just Transition in South Africa”, the event explored South Africa’s vision and efforts to shift to an equitable, net-zero economy and examined the roles of different stakeholders, especially development finance institutions (DFIs), in supporting the transition to low-carbon and climate-resilient economies.
The discussions highlighted the critical role of DFIs in helping to crowd-in much needed investments from the private sector for climate finance. They also explored innovative instruments by DFIs that can create a conducive ecosystem for private sector financing by helping to de-risk climate-related projects. Lessons from South Africa’s experience in just transition were also shared during the discussions, with examples highlighting the important engagement of the business community in crafting the country’s pathway to net-zero.
“Much of the discussion at COP27 has centered on the difficult task of making a just transition towards a low-carbon development trajectory. South Africa has shown itself to be a global leader on this issue, with important strides taken towards implementation of its vision for a just transition. NDB is delighted to be working alongside its partners across the development finance community and the private sector to support South Africa’s efforts,” said Mr. Leslie Maasdorp, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of NDB.
“NDB is honored to be a partner to South Africa in achieving its just transition. The Bank pursues the core development priorities of our member countries, particularly those that are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement adopted at COP21. We are committed to supporting infrastructure and sustainable development projects that are climate and disaster resilient, technology enabled and socially inclusive,” added Mr. Anil Kishora, Vice President and Chief Risk Officer of NDB.
“As the DBSA we mainstream climate finance into our development strategy through infrastructure deployment. Our role as the DBSA is to take an integrated approach to infrastructure delivery from planning, preparation to finance and implementation. The need for the DBSA to invest in building a highly skilled, scaled-up, end-to end project development and preparation business, that de-risks projects and delivers project concepts to bankability, is critical to scaling up infrastructure delivery in South Africa. On this journey of transition, the upstream work we are doing is becoming even more important because we have to develop those pipelines that become investable for the rest of the market and that we can catalyse funding for”, said Ms. Catherine Koffman, Group Executive Project Preparation, DBSA.
Background information
NDB was established by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging market economies and developing countries, complementing the existing efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions for global growth and development. In 2021, NDB initiated membership expansion and admitted Bangladesh, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Uruguay as its new member countries.
The DBSA is a leading Development Finance Institution (DFI), wholly owned by the government of South Africa. Established in 1983, the DBSA is mandated to promote economic growth and regional integration by mobilising financial and other resources from national and international private and public sectors for sustainable development projects and programmes in South Africa, SADC, and the wider African continent. The DBSA is also committed to playing an active role in a Just Transition that will achieve net zero emissions by 2050.